A report released on the 14th July with the title: “EU Border Regions: Living labs of European integration” gives an overview of the issues faced by cross-border regions and taking stock of the progress made over the last few years; spells out future developments, explaining how initiatives under the new 7-year EU budget can be used to stimulate the recovery of border areas, furthermore, it highlights the need to step up cross-border cooperation on all fronts to make these regions more resilient and help them harness their potential.